Thursday, April 21, 2016

Quick free world maps using GIMP filters and Donjon fractal maps - Part 6: Quick outline maps

Quick free world maps using GIMP filters and Donjon fractal maps series:
Part 1: Getting a fractal map,
Part 2: Getting different types of maps,
Part 3: More accurate 3D maps with mountains,
Part 4: Zooming and resolution,
Part 5 Expanding the Zoom Limits.

Outline maps are good to have for several reasons.

GMs can use these maps to label the different areas and regions of the world. Since they lack features on the land, it gives you plenty of room to add boundaries for kingdoms and such.

This is also a great method to show changes in populations and kingdoms over time.

You can give these mostly featureless maps to players to help them keep track of where they are, yet not reveal too many details

Two main quick outline methods

Two main quick outline methods exist in the toolset to make outline maps of the entire world. They are the Landmask and the Antique map methods. The Landmask blackens out the large lakes and ocean waters. The antique changes the background and makes the waters look slightly shaded for a dimensional depth effect.

Landmask method




  1. Go to http://donjon.bin.sh/world/.
  2. Enter your recorded Seed Number from part 1 into the Random Seed Field to bring up your map. Also change the Iteration to 25000. Verify that this is the correct map. You may have to adjust the Ice and Water.
  3. Make sure your Ice and Water percentages are the same as your original map. Also check the rotation, if you prefer a different perspective of the world.
  4. Adjust the Image Height to the height size in pixels that you want. The default is 400. You can increase it up to 2000 pixels high.
  5. To make a Landmask, change the Map Palette to from Atlas to Landmask.
  6. Optionally, you can make any of the types of maps that you did in part 2 by changing the Map Projection, including polar regions and the other types of maps as well.
Save the image to your folder. It will save as a GIF file. Open it with a programs such as Paint and save as a JPG file type if you want to edit and use the file to create labels and boundaries using GIMP.

Antique Map Method

Do the same steps as Landmark Method except:
5. To make a Antique Map, change the Map Palette from Atlas (or Landmark if you did the step above) to Antique Map.

Use either method with the other map types

You can use the two Outline type maps for any of those Part 2 maps.

Here is the poles using Antique Method.




I am saving a third method for a future book, along with a few other advanced techniques. This the results of that method which has no water unlike the prior two methods.



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